Bluetooth is a Radio Frequency (RF) specification proposed for transmission of point-to-multi-point voice and data over short distances.
A Bluetooth signal can penetrate solids and non-metallic materials. The typical transmission range is from 10 cm to 10 m, however, with increased transmission power, the range can be extended up to 100 m. Bluetooth technology is based on a low cost, short range wireless link and facilitates ad-hoc connections in a fixed and a mobile communication environment.
Bluetooth operates at 2.45 GHz which belongs to the same ISM band as specified for the 802.11b/g wireless LAN, and a Bluetooth device can perform wireless communication with Bluetooth devices in the surroundings thereof through a search/selection/authentication (pairing) process.
Although Bluetooth provides a relatively high data transfer speed using relatively low power at low cost, the transmission range is limited up to 100 m, and thus it is appropriate for use in a limited-scale environment.
Bluetooth started to become popular rapidly when communication quality was guaranteed to be at a predetermined level as the EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) specification was added to the Bluetooth version 2.0. As Bluetooth is widely used, Bluetooth-enabled portable devices are also becoming popular. In particular, short range data communication based on Bluetooth is widely used, an example of which is wireless music listening through Bluetooth communication with a Bluetooth headset.
Also, music play by using Bluetooth communication is becoming more common, as evidenced in the case of music play through coupling of a smartphone and car speakers via Bluetooth communication or music play through coupling a Bluetooth docking speaker and a smartphone.
Also, WPAN (Wireless Personal Area Network) can be used to transmit a small amount of data among devices in a home network, small office, or vehicular network environment, thereby maximizing energy efficiency.
Also, WPAN is widely used since it is capable of providing a real-time A/V streaming service through an electronic device such as a headset within a limited bandwidth and maximizing energy efficiency when an accompanying remote control function is performed.